Fireworks
by Speedy1236
Summary: Sonic, Tails and Knuckles go on a mission to stop Robotnik from putting his newest scheme into action. But the plan is risky...
1. Part 1

**Fireworks**

"This is insane." Knuckles had folded his arms in spite of the depth that gaped beneath the small solid piece of metal he stood on.

"You repeat yourself." Sonic tapped one foot, standing even more casually than Knuckles did, both of them blindly trusting in Tails' flying skills and that he wouldn't shake them off the wings of the biplane.

Knuckles growled. "I do repeat myself, alright. I do repeat myself simply because one certain spiked idiot around here isn't listening to me!"

"I am very well listening! But I don't see _you_ coming up with anything less – how did you call it? – insane." Sonic looked away from Knuckles and scanned the area below. "So well, let me explain it again," the hedgehog sighed. "Eggman build a complex on top of that mesa-island to get all the missiles he placed there launched simultaneously at the most important cities on Mobius. And as Tails figured out, this is the only place from where that plan is going to work. So if we destroy that base of his, Eggman's scheme is useless junk. And we got the chance to blast a great deal of his doomsday devices from existence. All at once. He'll need long to recover from that bang!" Sonic flipped his fingers in front of Knuckles' face.

"Yeah, right! As you said: IF," Knuckles snapped. "This place is going to be overpopulated with robots and weaponry! All of them just waiting for the silly, reckless hedgehog to come in and get himself killed. This plan we are about to put into action is self-kill!"

"If this is too risky for you, why did you come along?", Sonic hissed.

"I came along because Tails asked me!" Behind their backs, Tails ducked in the pilot seat. Knuckles continued without noticing. "I didn't come because that neck-break-plan of yours is anything like great, I came because I couldn't let you run into an explosive disaster. Tails is right when he says you need air support."

Sonic firmly crossed his arms on his chest and rolled his eyes. "Okay then, if my plan isn't your taste, what else should we do?"

Knuckles opened his mouth to answer, then stiffed, and shut it again. The truth was, there was no other plan. Knuckles knew. Sonic knew. But that didn't change that the echidna didn't like it at all. "This is still crazy," Knuckles muttered.

Sonic sighed and turned away again, looking out ahead, waiting for their goal to come into sight. He didn't want to go through that discussion with Knuckles again. It would be the ninth time since they had started. And it didn't lead to anything. If at all, it distracted them, it was a little outlet for the stress they all felt.

Tails did too, but the fox tried to concentrate on his flying and block out the ever repeating arguments of his two friends. Secretly Tails fully agreed with Sonic, this was the ultimate chance to spoil Robotnik's plans and do major harm to his arsenal. If the plan worked, it would be a punch in the face for the mad scientist, a strike he would need long to recover from. But as much as this mission would bring them advantage, it was risky.

It was silent now, silent apart from the monotonous sounds of the Tornado's engines. Sonic and Knuckles had finally stilled, none of them having any more arguments or insults to shout or yell or growl at each other. But the silence was even more unsettling than their pointless arguing, Tails was so used to these only half serious confrontations that he almost needed them. And now their quiet was unnerving the two tailed fox.

* * *

"There it is," Sonic's words broke the silence long minutes later. The hedgehog pointed forwards.

Ahead, hundreds of meters high, the mesa rose out of the sea, waves crashing against the rocks on its bottom and sparkling into white clouds of droplets falling back down. The rock climbed vertically into the sky, already turning slightly red with nearing sunset. What lay on top of this huge natural pedestal was a hard contrast to the nature around. The flat summit was cramped full of machinery and fuel tanks, metal twinkling in the dimming sunlight, smoke rising from long chimneys. But the most obviously picking out objects were the nine tower-like missiles, standing upright between the machine blocks, their tips stabbing into the sky.

If Robotnik managed to launch these things into cities… None of the three friends on the small biplane wanted to think too hard about that.

Knuckles drew a deep breath. "Alright. Here we are."

Sonic turned to him, for a moment diving his emerald green eyes into Knuckles' violet ones. "Ready?"

Knuckles nodded back. Suddenly both of them were calm, no arguments, no discussing, no different opinions. They just looked at each other, reassuring the other one of the mutual presence, knowing that they could trust each other after all.

Sonic turned around to Tails. "Okay little bro. You know the plan aright?"

Tails nodded, his blue eyes narrowing a bit with determination. "I'm ready. Knuckles and I are the air support."

Sonic inclined his head briefly, his pointy ears twitching slightly with a rarely reached grade of concentration. "Good. Let's blow that stupid hunk of junk over there to pieces!"

Tails nodded again and forced the plane into a dive, Sonic and Knuckles crouching on the wings now. "Alright Sonic! We're coming in. Be careful."

"Good luck," Knuckles said silently as Sonic tensed to jump.

The hedgehog turned to his friends, for the blink of an eye flashing the typical, confident Sonic-grin at them. "See ya!" Then he was gone, somersaulting off the wings and landing on top of a small roof.

Tails pulled the plane back up and to the right, flying a circle around the mesa-top. "Okay Knuckles. We have to distract the flying bots around here. Sonic is on his own and an easy target down there."

The red echidna turned over his shoulder. He nodded. "I'm ready. Let's bust some robots, Tails."

* * *

Sonic landed in a crouch, shot a brief glance after the turning plane, then straightened himself up and stepped to the edge of the roof, taking an attentive look downwards. The small road, certainly used by the robots to transport things around here, was deserted. Sonic leaped down and followed the way in a jog, his footsteps so soft they were almost soundless.

He stopped when he reached the next corner, his sharp ears noticing the robots long before they did notice him. Sonic leaned against the wall, daring a gaze around the corner. He needed to watch them only for a moment, then he turned back, crouched down and waited, counting the seconds it would take them to reach the corner.

Sonic's muscles braced and he was up like shot from a catapult, a blue streak rushing into the bundle of robot guards. Sonic dived around one of them, curled into a spin and smashed two or three at almost the same time. Uncurling and spinning on his heels, Sonic leaped forwards, narrowly avoiding a laser beam, and rammed his shoulder into the nearest bot. It tumbled backwards, crashing into a second that blew both of them up with a laser shot that had been meant to hit Sonic.

Only ten seconds later, Sonic knelt on a heap of smoking metal and plastic, the former badniks no longer usable for anything apart from recycling. Sonic stood upright, dusting himself off as he caught his breath. A small grin crept onto his lips. "Well, that was easy. If this keeps up, this will be a piece of cake."

The blue hedgehog looked around, orientating himself, then ran off to the left, following the direction the robots had come from.

He had not gotten far, when the grip on the floor was suddenly gone. "Whooaa!" Sliding helplessly, Sonic looked down. Oil. Great.

But the oil film shouldn't stay the only problem. The small road led to a stairway downwards. Sonic was tripped over the first tread and tumbled forwards, reflexively curling into a ball. He bounced over the stairs, then finally rolled to a stop. Sonic hunkered on his knees, carefully rubbing his sore head.

Clicking sounds let him stiff and the hedgehog looked up. "Oh oh…"

He was kneeling on the metallic floor of a big square, a square filled with robots. Multiple laser guns glowed threateningly in his direction. Sonic cautiously climbed to his feet. "Eh... hi guys. How's it going?"

The laser fired.

* * *

BANG!

Knuckles ducked and dodged the sharp pieces of metal wreckage when the nearest robot exploded under Tails' fire. "Good shot, Tails!"

"Knuckles! Watch out there!", Tails shouted, pointing to the right. Slightly below them and slowly descending was another bundle of flying killer machines.

"Got them!", Knuckles shouted back. "I'm on it!" He jumped down, flaring his dreadlock-like spikes a second later and catching himself in a gentle glide.

The echidna neared the robots from above and a spiked fist made hard contact with the closest robot's metallic skull. Dropping out of the sky together with the machine, Knuckles hurtled it at two of its companions. The shockwave of the explosion following the crash pushed the echidna upwards again. A next machine bit the dust through a stone-hard punch.

Knuckles looked around and glided over in the direction of the Tornado. Crossing its wings, Knuckles let himself fall down. The weight of the landing echidna shook the small plane briefly.

As soon as he was sure Knuckles was safely standing on the wing, Tails leaned his plane into a sharp turn. His hand fisted around the control stick and through narrowed eyes the fox watched the next group of bots coming into his line of fire. Tails' thumb pressed hard on the button for the Tornado's machine guns and a new wave a fire smashed into the approaching badniks.

* * *

Reacting more through instinct than design, Sonic half leaped, half ducked forwards, the movement reflexively ending in a spin. His sharp quills smashed against the nearest robot's legs, knocking the machine out of balance. Without stopping the spin dash, Sonic turned and went faster, bouncing against whatever pieces of robotic bodies would just appear in his way, hoping that they wouldn't hit him by chance.

Sonic got out of his spin when the amount of contacts decreased. Now running instead of rolling, he found to his big satisfaction and relief that only a handful of badniks remained. The square was plastered with remains of damaged robots, charred by their own laser fire when they had shot after the hedgehog or torn apart by Sonic's spin attacks.

One minute later, Sonic was standing alone on a junkyard for broken robot guards. For a moment the hedgehog leaned on his knees to calm his breathing, then he continued his way, crossed the square and followed a stairway that led upwards on the other side of it.

Sonic climbed up onto a big humming machine, trying to get an overview of his surroundings. He was searching for a way to the missiles. From up on the Tornado it had been easy to see them, standing grouped on three spots on the big natural platform. But down here, Sonic's sight was filled with machine blocks and buildings. He couldn't look farther than a few meters.

But he needed to find the rockets. The plan involved that Sonic activated all three groups to explode and destroy the base, so that Eggman couldn't send them to a city and probably kill someone.

Clinging to a ladder-like thing on a tower's wall, Sonic finally glimpsed the tips of the nearest missiles. "Okay, wait for me guys," he muttered and jumped back down, taking off in the direction he'd just spotted.

* * *

"Tails! We got company!" Knuckles pointed backwards.

Tails turned over his shoulder, shooting a hasty glance back, then yelped when the group of six or seven flybots closely behind him opened fire. Knuckles flung himself down on the wing to avoid getting hit.

Tails scanned the surroundings. The high chimneys, the buildings… Could work. "Hold on tight!"

"What are you going to – whaaaa!" Knuckles' question ended in a yelp when Tails gave the control stick a hard push to the right. The Tornado responded immediately, its right wing diving down and the plane did a twist through the fire of pursuing robots.

While Tails slalomed crazily through the shots, Knuckles attentively pushed himself to his knees on the side of the wing, not daring to let go of it with both hands. But he didn't need to. The nearest robots were into reach nonetheless. Knuckles leaned forwards a bit and gave the closest machine a hard punch, sending it in a spiraling motion first down and then crashing against one of the chimneys.

"Knuckles, get to the middle! I need a stable position!", Tails shouted over the engine's noises and the sounds of a mid-air battle.

Knuckles climbed to hunker behind the propeller. He was about to ask what Tails needed extra stability for all of a sudden, when the question was answered already.

As soon as the echidna was were he'd ordered him, Tails pulled the Tornado upwards, then the small biplane and its two passengers were turned upside-down when the young pilot forced his aircraft into a loop. The wheels of the plane almost scraped along the wall in front of them. But the sounds of exploding badniks showed the maneuver had been successful.

Tails turned over his shoulder when he was flying horizontally again. Three remaining. And he needed a way to shake them off his tail… Tails chewed his lip in concentration as he spotted a way to get rid of his pursuers. "Knuckles? Now you hold on tighter than tight!"

Knuckles glanced ahead. They were flying directly into a group of long chimneys, smoke rising from their tops. And there was no place to get through, they were standing _**that**_ close… It was almost a wall... "Tails? You won't…?"

Tails' eyes were focused on the small gap between the closest towers. "Trust me."

Knuckles groaned as he grabbed the wing that firmly he feared he might squeeze it under his fists. "Oh no." What am I doing here? I could sit _safely_ on Angel Island and enjoy guarding the Master Emerald…

With a quick movement of his right hand, Tails pushed the left wing down again as if starting another twist, but the spinning was stopped abruptly, now the wings standing vertically.

"Please, be big enough for us to squeeze through…", Tails mumbled as he ducked in his seat. Of course that was needless, but it was an unconscious reaction.

Knuckles pressed himself to the cool metal underneath him. "Not enough, not enough…", he whispered to himself, unaware of verbalizing his thoughts.

The high chimneys closed around the tiny plane, coming ever nearer and nearer and nearer. Threatening to smash the little Tornado...

Knuckles squeezed his eyes shut.

* * *

Sonic raced around the corner of a skyscraper-high machine, giving a tiny grin as the small boom behind him told that the robots couldn't handle the sharp turn as fast as he. No big surprise though.

He had gotten near enough to the first group of rockets to see them without climbing onto things. As long as the view wasn't blocked by one of Robotnik's pieces of machinery. But the amount of humming blocks in his line of sight wouldn't have been a problem.

The problem was much more annoying. And much more affectionate. It appeared in form of about twenty robotic guards that were currently chasing Sonic around in a labyrinth of machines. Sonic couldn't get to schedule with activating the missiles until he got rid of his new fans, it was likely he would need at least a few calm seconds there to set the countdown and so on.

The blue hedgehog ran up a kind of stairway and found himself on top of a big sort of tub, filled with stuff Sonic hated even more than the robots. Water. Apparently used for the base's cooling systems.

Sonic dodge a metallic pillar, grabbing the banisters around the pool for support as his change of direction resulted in an involuntary slide on the slippy ground. A quick glance back showed that the bots were still behind him. Sonic rushed around the pool, then hopped out of a sudden idea onto the banisters, grinding along on the metal.

Some of the robots tried to follow and ended up tripping themselves into the water. Sonic cheered and kicked at one of their companions as he grinded past it. The force of the hedgehog's kick threw the machine off balance and it fell to the wet ground, sliding to join the other robots in the pool.

Sonic hopped off the grinder and launched himself at the remaining enemies, taking advantage of the problems their metallic feet obviously had with the lack of friction on the wet ground.

The hedgehog's face was wearing a broad cocky grin as he watched the damaged machines bopping up and down in the water. "You guys have a nice pool party here and I'll start preparing the barbeque for later!" Sonic waved and sped off, turning back to the missiles.

He reached them only one minute later. A big control panel on a wall drew his attention and stepping closer Sonic found that he was lucky and had discovered the countdown timer without a long search. "How nice of you Eggman, putting the clocks just were I can find them," he mumbled as he stood in front of it, running a hand through his quills, green eyes trying to figure out how to work the machine.

Then he reached and turned a switch, a small screen flashing and showing a growing number. Twenty minutes… Should be enough. If they set the timer on a too long countdown, Eggman would possibly find a way to reverse it.

Sonic retracted his hand and watched as the timer started counting backwards. 20:00. 19:59. 19:58. 19:57…

The hedgehog turned. Now he only needed to check that the timers of the other rockets were also activated and then he had to get outta here.

Only a few minutes later, Sonic entered a big hall. Naturally he had planned to simply get in on one side and out on the other, but it shouldn't be that simple.

Sonic skid to a stop when the door behind him slammed close and the formerly dimly lighted room was suddenly flashed into brightness. The hedgehog shielded his eyes from the slightly bluish neon light and blinked rapidly to adjust his vision. It needed a moment until the stinging pain in his eyes faded and he could see clearly again.

In the middle of the gymnasium-big room a kind of vehicle was standing, its form remotely resembling a spider or an octopus, it had several long – arms, as Sonic supposed. The body in the middle was wearing a glassy top and from inside the capsule, the broadly grinning face of Dr. Eggman was looking at the hedgehog.

"Welcome to my base, hedgehog. I hope you like it here. 'Cause you won't leave it again!"

Robotnik's fingers hit on a panel on his dashboard and the arms of his robot were launched at Sonic. The hedgehog slit aside, escaping two of them, then a third one crashed into his rips and Sonic was thrown through half of the room. He coughed, and the machine prepared another attack.


	2. Part 2

Suddenly gravity pulling on his side was gone and Knuckles' weight was pressed against the wing. He blinked, needing a moment to grasp that the plane still got two unharmed wings, that he hadn't been crushed against the too-close tower walls and – most important – that the Tornado was once again flying in a position planes were build for. Horizontally.

The echidna turned around to Tails. "Phew."

"You didn't think I would pin us to the wall, did you?" Tails managed a weary smile.

"No." Knuckles knew that was a flat lie. He knew that he had reckoned with finding himself squashed. And the plane and Tails along with him. And he knew that Tails had been thinking the same.

"We lost our friends," Knuckles continued, hesitantly standing up on the wing, his legs feeling confusingly weak. He pointed backwards.

Tails looked and nodded. "That was the idea."

Knuckles took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart beat. "Good," he said regaining his wits, "I guess we finished the majority of these flybots. So where's that thing we need to fix for Sonic?"

"Up ahead. See? On this tower?" Tails pointed.

"Good. Go for it. We wasted enough time by messing with those guys."

* * *

Sonic yelped and jumped aside.

"Stand still, you pesky creep!", Eggman's angry voice bellowed from his cockpit.

"Sorry doc, I'm not good at standing still," Sonic shouted back as he dodged again. "People usually accuse me of being hyperactive. But there are things I'm good at. Like that!" The hedgehog leaped up, curled into a ball and bounded down on one of the long arms of the robot that came below.

"Ahrrg! You…", Robotnik spat as Sonic's sharp quills cut through the metal with an ear-hurting screech. It was the third robot arm he lost to such an attack now and the scientist was in a foul mood.

Sonic grinned, satisfied to see his archenemy turning red with anger, and accelerated his footsteps, running in circles around Eggman's robot vehicle. The grin quickly faded from his face when a small shockwave hit him and he was thrown off his feet and slit along the floor on his belly. Needless to say that if you were running a few hundred miles per hour, the friction of such a fall was hard and hot and that the momentum carried long.

Sonic groaned as he pushed himself up to a kneeling position, for a moment forgetting Eggman and his fighting machine while he carefully examined his belly, chest and knees. Great. That was a nice mixture of bruises, burns and grazes. Exactly what he needed right now. Sonic crawled to his feet.

His opponent decided to commemorate his presence and a small missile hit the floor aside of Sonic. The hedgehog tumbled and clutched his left ear as it rang from the shock of the nearby explosion. More or less regaining his balance, Sonic sped forwards again, heading for Robotnik's machine. He was now catching up on the simple fact that what had thrown him off his feet before had certainly also been such a missile.

Ducking and narrowly avoiding a direct hit, Sonic called over at Eggman. "Giving up on the real fight already? I hadn't even noticed that it's already time for the heavy artillery!"

"Shut up, hedgehog! Originally I planned to keep you alive to let you see how these nice cities vanish in my personal fireworks, fireworks that will monitor my final victory over that planet of foolish beasts and the beginning of my empire. But you've gotten too far! Now you will DIE!" The scientist bounced his fist on his controls, sending several small projectiles at the hedgehog.

Sonic slalomed through the exploding spots on the floor all around him. He was getting tired of being shot at or punched around. And additionally, he had absolutely **no** time for that. He was messing around with Robotnik for several minutes already. The first countdown was started and only two buttons to press would finish his mission here. He needed to get ready with Eggman quickly.

Sonic jumped over a long robotic limb in his way, then made a quick decision and hopped onto the robot's arm, running on it towards the body.

Seeing Sonic's intention, Eggman hastily twisted a lever. "No, you won't!"

The robot's arm shook vigorously and the hedgehog was slammed to the floor.

* * *

Knuckles landed softly on a small platform on top of the tower Tails had shown. The echidna looked around. Okay… There was something looking like a control console or something along that line...

Knuckles moved closer. It was a computer, with a screen and a keyboard. Knuckles wasn't great on things like that, to be honest he found it tough already utilizing those radios Tails had in his workshop, and a huge panel of maniacally blinking buttons did mainly one thing to Knuckles: confuse him completely.

But Sonic and Tails had explained what he had to do here, and knowing that the hedgehog needed this done to be successful down there, Knuckles cast his eyes over the board. He tried his best to ignore the erratic flickering in multiple colors and concentrated on the labels aside the switches and buttons. Most meant nothing to him.

Robot Accumulator Settings. Magnetic Induction Controls. Generator Outlet. Valve Pressure. Radio Interference. Main Electricity. Surveillance Alert. Missile Cruise Control. Security Robot Communication. Satellite Positioning… – Wait…

"Missile Cruise Control…", Knuckles mumbled as he read again. He reached out and pressed the button.

The screen in front of him changed from showing Eggman's logo to text and numbers. Knuckles read with a frown of concentration. The computer listed each of the nine rockets with a target. But it wasn't a name of a place. Instead, Knuckles was confronted with long numbers. His frown deepened. Helplessly his gaze wandered over the keyboard.

His eyes stopped when they focused on a blinking number as long as the ones up on the screen. Satellite Positioning… Knuckles felt a small smile wrinkle his lips. Then these long numbers were coordinates. What meant all he got to do was changing the targets to the number on the board and all the babies would hit home…

Literally.

* * *

Sonic narrowed his eyes as he landed in a crouch. For a moment he regarded Eggman's battle machine, then he shot up again, skipping through long arms reaching out for him as he raced forwards. This time they missed him and Sonic gave a tiny smirk when he leaped into a spin. He crashed into the vehicle and his spikes dug deeply into the material.

For a few seconds Sonic had the tickling feeling of electricity on the ends of his quills, then he rocketed out of the robot the other side. After some securing steps away from it, Sonic stopped and turned around, brushing down his blue fur that partly stood on end after the fight. The hedgehog looked at the robot.

The long limbs lay powerlessly on the ground, now seeming as if all of them had been cut up, the lights on the machine were out, only small blue sparks blinked where Sonic's attack had left deep holes in the vehicle. Smoke was rising from said holes and a charred smell was starting to fill the air.

Movement on the robot's top drew Sonic's attention and he spotted Robotnik looking at him through cracked glass, an expression of recondite hatred on his face. The ends of his moustache were trembling slightly and his voice carried the unmistakable sound of deep hostility. "This isn't over, Sonic. I will get you sooner or later. One of those days you will surrender to my power and –"

"Yeah, well, are you finished babbling?", Sonic interrupted him, allowing himself his cockiest grin. "It's just that I heard the crap you usually talk often enough and that I got more important things to do now."

Eggman's already red face color grew to deep crimson. "Ahh! Just you wait –"

Sonic rubbed his nose casually. "Sorry to interrupt you again, but I gotta speed. How about if you – well – tidy up a little? And then I think I saw some of your robotic underlings throwing a nice pool party around here. Maybe you can go join them."

The scientist jerked upright, his hands pressing against the glass. Sonic turned around and casually jogged towards the exit, briefly considering if he should warn Eggman that in less than nine minutes this place would disappear in a loud bang. But hearing the numerous insults his nemesis shouted after him, Sonic decided not to. Let him see how he handled things himself.

* * *

Tails looked up at Knuckles when the echidna landed on the wing again. "Did it work?"

Knuckles nodded. "Was easier than it first looked."

Tails nodded back. "Good. Then our part is finished. Now we just need to get to this landing place and wait for Sonic."

* * *

The button was shining in a bright red. Easy to see already from some distance. Sonic smiled as he slit to a stop in front of the console table. At least it seemed as if the trouble was finally over. Was about time, Sonic thought acidly and ran a hand over the most hurting parts of himself.

The hedgehog reached out and his flat palm hit down on the button. The small screen awoke and showed the synchronized countdown that would send all activated rockets up simultaneously.

6:13.

"Two done, one to go," Sonic murmured and sped off towards the last missiles awaiting him today.

* * *

Tails' fingers were drumming on the side of the plane. "Where is Sonic," he half sang, half whispered.

The Tornado was standing on a square, in fact, it was the only place with a flat ground that was big enough to land a plane on the entire base. And it was the settled meeting point with Sonic. But the hedgehog wasn't coming.

The plan contained that Sonic should be here half an hour after Tails had dropped him, so that they had enough time to safely leave before the missiles started and blew the place up.

It was already 37 minutes. No, 37 minutes and 48 seconds. Tails grunted anxiously.

Knuckles was standing on the wings, trying to get a good look around. "The stupid hedgehog is not supposed to take a picnic here!" Knuckles' annoyed tone hid his concern very well. They were running out of time. They needed the plane in the air when the bombs went up. They couldn't wait for Sonic forever.

"Hey, what is that?", Tails' call pulled Knuckles out of his thoughts. The orange fox pointed upwards. A small, flying, almost round object was making its unsteady way through the air above their heads and disappeared out of their sight behind one of the buildings surrounding them.

Knuckles shrugged. "A stupid flying robot thing! Give me one guess whose it is. And I know who's _not_ on it."

Tails sighed as he sank back down into his seat, once again knocking his fingertips on the metallic skin of his biplane.

* * *

The blue hedgehog almost crashed headlong into the control table. Half lying on it, his hand smashed down on the start button.

3:56.

Now he had to get to Tails and Knuckles quickly. Sonic whirled on his heels and ran around the next corner, rushed up a kind of ladder and raced over the flat roof of a big building. The lower course was cramped with obstacles and would only slow his pace. Up here, the roof also wasn't a plain way to run on either, long antennas and other stuff stood erratically spread across the path and the hedgehog had to concentrate sharply on things all around him.

After narrowly dodging a cubic box and surprisedly looking at it for a second, Sonic saw the edge far too late. He couldn't stop. He tried anyway. The blue hedgehog pushed his feet into the ground, the run changing into a sliding motion. The friction forced a screeching sound out of the soles of his sneakers and the protesting plastic left a black burned line on the ground. Sonic could already feel the heat through the shoes.

But he was slowing and the hope that he wouldn't trip himself over the edge of the roof gloomed in him for a splint-second. He had almost stopped when his toes crossed the edge. For a second or less Sonic was swaying back and forth, balancing on the balls of his feet and rowing his arms helplessly, then gravity won the fight and Sonic fell forwards with a yelp.

The fall wasn't as long as expected. A net of wires was stretched out underneath him. Several layers of cables coming from all directions and going to all.

Sonic hit the first one and screamed out as electricity was jerked through his body. Even unwillingly, the hedgehog grabbed the wire for support. Big mistake. The shocks kept shooting waves of convulsing pain through his body until Sonic's fingers that had closed around the wire out of reflex lost their power and he rolled down the cable.

He fell only a few meters, then the fall was stopped by another wire and another jolt of painful electricity. Sonic struggled until gravity pulled him back into its grip and he was almost pleased as he was smacked onto hard ground.

But… he didn't have time… He couldn't … not here… not now… A small groan escaped Sonic's lips and his vision went blank.

* * *

"This is taking way too long," Knuckles mumbled under his breath.

"Can you see him yet?", Tails' question came from behind.

"No!"

"But it can't take him that long! He doesn't have the time! After he activated the last timers, he's got only a few minutes to get here!" Tails was almost swallowing the last syllables of the words, speaking faster than he could in his nervousness.

But Knuckles knew what he was saying. Didn't need to hear it. And he knew what Tails didn't say, didn't dare to broach aloud. If Sonic didn't make it out of there in time, what meant before the missiles started and blew the base and the mesa it was erected on sky-high, the hedgehog was a goner.

"Knuckles?", Tails' whisper pulled the echidna's attention back to the fox.

"What?", Knuckles snapped, regretting his sharp tone the second the words left his mouth. Tails was having enough trouble already, he didn't need his bad mood on top of it. "Tails, I," the echidna started.

But Tails didn't seem to notice his sharp retort. He looked up at Knuckles, blue eyes wide open and ears flat. "Knuckles, if we stay here, we have no chance to make it out."

For a second Knuckles was speechless as Tails' words sank in. "Start, Tails," he then told the fox, his deep voice slightly hoarse. "We'll see that we find him from up there, okay?"

Tails nodded and hesitantly pushed the throttle lever forwards, maneuvering the little plane off the only possible landing place on the rocky plateau. The Tornado climbed higher and Tails circled over the edge that was closest to the last bombs Sonic had activated. So he should come that way…

Knuckles stood on the wing, tensed without a real reason but his worry for Sonic's whereabouts. Having to start without him felt like betraying his friend and Knuckles knew that it did to Tails just as much. But it wouldn't help Sonic if none of them made it out… Knuckles fisted his hands. He had no idea what they would do once they spotted the hedgehog. No idea how to get him up here in time.

If there was time. The clocks were ticking unstoppably …

* * *

When his senses returned to him, Sonic rolled to his side and pushed himself up on his elbows. For a moment he wondered that he was still in one piece and that he hadn't been crushed on impact, but then memory stroke with lightening force, startling the hedgehog to his feet much faster than he had expected to move right now.

The bombs! The timers for the missile launches were running.

How long had he been out? How long until this place was blown to bits and he with it? How long?

Sonic started running, desperation enhancing his acceleration as growing panic overwhelmed his body with adrenaline. The sonic boom was there only seconds after his start, giving a metallic echo when Sonic's sound wave smashed against the machinery around. The wind blew into his face, normally an enjoyable sensation for the running hedgehog, now it was just another force working against him. Slowing his pace. Sonic leaned into it, arms behind his back and quills fattened to reduce his friction.

His feet were barely touching the ground any more, only tipping it for nanoseconds when he rushed forwards with a speed every sensible person would describe as pure suicide on that course. Sonic barely saw the obstacles he was dodging. He had no time to think about what he did. All he could do was relying on his instincts and the experience in running he had gained in his life and hoping that no too sharp angle or worse, a dead end, would appear on his path.

Sonic didn't hear the change, the sudden sound, he felt it. It was shaking the ground and his fragile balance at that speed. The blue hedgehog stretched his arms out for support and looked up and around. The rumbling in the floor was now joined by a flickering shine of brightness against the evening sky. The rockets were lifting up.

Sonic almost ducked, lowering his head into the cocoon of air around him, and ran. Ran faster than he thought even he could until today. His heart beat and breathing were near bursting his rips and his muscles screaming flames. Sonic didn't care, noticed all that only as a distant impression. The only existing thing was running. The way too fast and still not fast enough movement forwards.

The sudden sight in front of him let a wave of brief relief crash over him. Sky. This was the edge. The way to escape the bombs. Then he would be confronted with the next problem, but he didn't have the time to bother.

Sonic pushed himself the last meters forwards, then leaped down vertically.

Behind and above him, the world burst into inferno.

* * *

The missiles hit target and Robotnik's buildings were gone in a ball of fire and lightening.

The small biplane swerved as the shockwaves hit. Tails' hands strainedly clutched his controls, desperately trying to hold the Tornado in the air and more or less steady.

Knuckles was crouching on the wing, his hands tightly locked around its edges to stay on the bucking plane. Then he spotted it. No, spotted him. A blue shape falling off the rock and in a tumbling pattern downwards. "There he is, Tails!" Knuckles pointed. "We gotta catch him!"

"No good, Knuckles!", Tails shouted back louder than necessary. "We'll crash nose-first into that wall! We gotta turn! And wait until all these explosions stop and throw us out of balance! But then…" Tails broke off.

Knuckles understood anyway. They couldn't afford waiting. Even given the unlikely luck of surviving the impact, Sonic couldn't swim. He would sink into the sea like a stone.

Knuckles clenched his fists that tightly that his fingernails stabbed into his palms. He needed an idea. And he needed it fast… "I'm hanging out with that reckless idiot far too much," the red echidna muttered under his breath, then whirled to Tails. "Come back when it's safe and get us!"

Before Tails got even the chance to think about opening his mouth to ask, Knuckles had disappeared off the wing with something almost elegantly resembling a header.

The echidna straightened himself as he fell, tightly pressing his long spines to his body, streamlining himself and speeding up the descent. When he thought he was lower than the falling lump of blue spikes, Knuckles caught his fall, allowing the wind to get under his dreads and changing his motion into a stable glide.

Although the stability lasted only for a few seconds. Until he collided with 35 dead kilos of hedgehog weight and the heap of two bodies was thrown against the nearby rock.

Knuckles lashed out in an act of reflex, his spiked namesakes driving into the wall. The sudden halt sent a hard jolt through Knuckles' arms and shoulders. The echidna needed a moment to catch his breath, then he addressed the weight pulling on his left arm. "Sonic?"

The hedgehog moaned, blinking opening his eyes, and groggily squinted up at Knuckles holding firmly around his wrist. "What … Knux?"

"You see now why you need backup?"

"Huh?" Sonic blinked again, belatedly catching up on his situation as the first muzziness after the impact and this exhausting run for his life faded again. "Oh. I guess that was a close one…"

Knuckles nodded. "You could kinda say so."

"Thanks." Sonic smiled up at the echidna wearily. "I don't really know how you got me. But it was great. I owe you one."

Knuckles nodded again. "No problem."

* * *

Tails flew circles in a safe distance until the explosions on top of the lone mesa started dying out. But the fox didn't have eyes for the burning destruction on top of the rock or for the reflections they created on the sea below. He was watching his two friends clinging to the wall about fifty meters above the sea level. At least they seemed more or less safe there.

As soon as the worst exploding of things on the island stopped, Tails lowered the plane and flew along the vertically rising rock, bringing the left wing almost in touch with it. And reduced the speed as much as he could risk. Slowly he neared his friends.

Sonic and Knuckles watched as the Tornado came closer. The echidna was still holding Sonic up on his wrist. "Okay," he said to the blue hedgehog, "I let go when Tails is under us. Get ready to land."

Sonic nodded, concentratedly watching Tails' approval. Then Knuckles' grip loosened, Sonic loosened his own and fell down onto the wing, more or less gracely ending up on his hands and knees. "Okay Tails. Now get Knux."

Tails turned his plane around and flew in the opposite direction. Knuckles held himself and watched, then pulled his spikes free and dropped onto the right wing. "Good job, Tails," he nodded at the fox.

Tails beamed proudly and pulled the plane back up to get an overview of the destroyed base. The foxy pilot eyed the blue hedgehog sitting on the left wing now. "Are you okay, Sonic?"

Sonic replied with a thumbs-up. "Fine. Nothing a nap and a few chili dogs can't cure." He grinned.

Tails smiled and Knuckles shook his head, but smirked inwardly.

Sonic regarded the chaos that had wiped out the base. The fuel and gas tanks were still not tired of exploding. The largest explosion had banged off half of the flat summit, creating a new slope and big pebbles were still tumbling down and crashing into the sea below. The sky was turning purple with both closing nightfall and the shine of the fire.

"See, this was a great success. Robotnik's stupid missiles blew up their own houseroom." Sonic's voice was unable to hide the satisfaction and pride.

Tails giggled relaxing. "Yeah, I'd like to see his face now. We won't hear anything from him for a while I guess."

Sonic turned to Knuckles. "Come on, admit it, it is a success."

The red echidna regarded him seriously. "Yes," he said flatly. "It is. But it also was nearly a disaster. We'd almost lost you here."

Sonic gulped and gave a small nod. "Thanks again," he mumbled.

Knuckles shook his head. "You don't need to thank me for that. I'd do it again. But if you want to do me a favor in exchange for that one: Next time there is a plan for such a mission, listen to me and we make one that won't kill you."

Sonic nodded again, holding one hand out at Knuckles. "Deal. Shake on it."

Knuckles did with a tiny smile. "Deal."

Sonic looked at him for a moment, then turned to Tails. "What do you say? Can we get us a chili dog now?"

"Hey," Knuckles interjected before Tails could answer, "You said once we are done with this, you'd fly me back up home. Unlike some, I got other important things to do besides smashing up robots and bases."

"Yeah yeah, watching oversized green crystals…" Sonic flinched before continuing, not seeming to notice how Knuckles' eyes angrily took a slightly deeper shade of purple. "But I want my chili dog. I was punched by robots, electrocuted and nearly fell to certain death. I deserve my chili dog. And I want it _now_!"

Knuckles folded his arms. "No. I deserve getting back home just as much. I say we fly to Angel Island now."

"No, we go and get some snacks now." Sonic's green eyes narrowed at Knuckles.

"I will show you just what you can get, you –", the echidna started, but was interrupted by Tails from behind.

"Guys?" The word sounded soft as Tails glanced up at his two passengers sitting on the wings. "May I suggest a compromise? Just that one time? It's only that I don't need to listen to another one of your arguments right now."

Sonic blinked, looked over at Knuckles, the echidna shrugged quite cluelessly, and Sonic looked back down on Tails. "What compromise?"

"We fly Knuckles home and stop briefly on the way to get you some chili dogs?" Tails smiled sweetly.

Sonic stared at him, then at Knuckles. The suggestion was so easy and logical, but neither he nor Knuckles had gotten the idea that you could very well handle both things at once.

Sonic grinned. "I think that's a great idea, little bro!"

Knuckles nodded, elbowing Sonic. "Then you can eat your junk food on the way up."

"Yeah," Tails muttered, "the two of you could avoid almost ninety per cent of your arguments if you'd think about what you are arguing about _before_ you start."

"Huh?", Sonic and Knuckles chorused, exchanging a glance and a shrug.

Tails sighed and rolled his eyes. He didn't really think that they would change. Or even get his point. But somehow he didn't want them to change at all. The two tailed fox leaned his plane into a turn and the destroyed base fell behind them.

For a few minutes it was almost silent, then Sonic, dangling his legs on the wing and massaging his bruises, turned to face Knuckles and flashed a grin. "Would you do me a favor, Knux?"

"Favor? Which one?" The echidna eyed his blue friend suspiciously, he knew he was going to make a joke, and normally he ended up teasing Knuckles then.

Sonic tipped his spiky head to one side, his pointy ears twitching amusedly, but his tone almost made the following words a serious statement. Almost. "Next time I go skydiving, remind me to take a parachute."

Knuckles stared at him for a moment, then Sonic's self-control had worn off and the hedgehog broke into laughter. Tails and Knuckles couldn't help it but join him.

* * *

_This is the end, guys. I had a lot of fun writing this and if you like to give me a review, I'd be pleased!_


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